The present invention relates to chance-type tickets that are dispensed in a strip format.
Lottery tickets and pull tab tickets are manufactured in many different formats. One popular format is to manufacture the tickets in strips with perforations between adjacent tickets to allow individual tickets to be torn from the strip. The strip may be stored as a reel of tickets or as a fanfolded or accordion-folded stack of tickets and may be dispensed from a machine or manually by a clerk. Scratch-off instant lottery tickets are typically a single ply ticket and are played by removing a rub-off covering on the face of the ticket. Pull tab tickets may have two plies with cut-outs in the top ply that define windows. The pull tab tickets are played by opening the windows to reveal game results.
Typically, all of the tickets in the strip are associated with a single deal of tickets. Each deal has a predetermined number of winning tickets.
Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc., Chatsworth, Calif., markets phone cards manufactured in two-ply strips. FIGS. 1A-1D show a strip 10 of one commercial embodiment of the phone cards 12 which is called “Bayou Bucks.” In Bayou Bucks, each phone card 12 costs $1.00 and entitles the user to three minutes of talk time. In addition to receiving phone talk time, each phone card 12 has an instant sweepstakes that provides the phone card purchaser with the chance to win a fixed, predetermined monetary prize. Bayou Bucks phone cards 12 are interconnected end-to-end with rows of perforations 14 that extend widthwise across the strip 10 and that separate and define individual phone cards 12. Each phone card 12 has a top ply 16 and a base ply 18. Each phone card 12 is thus defined by front and rear surfaces 20 and 22 of the top ply, and front and rear surfaces 24 and 26 of the base ply. The front surface 20 of the top ply 16 has the phone card value ($1.00) and a top prize value 28 for the sweepstakes game. The front surface 24 of the base ply 18 has calling card instructions 29, PIN number 30 for use of the phone card, and sweepstakes game results 32 thereon, all of which are hidden from view by the top ply 16.
The phone cards 12 are dispensed in a vending machine (not shown), either one at a time or in a strip 10 if a plurality of phone cards 12 are purchased in one transaction.
Referring to FIG. 2, an adhesive 34 is disposed between portions of the adjoining surfaces of the top ply 16 and the base ply 18. During assembly of the phone card 12, the adhesive 34 is placed on the front surface 24 of the base ply 18 before the top ply 16 is adhered to the base ply 18. The adhesive 34 covers substantially all areas of the front surface 24, except for an edge region 36 that aligns with an edge region 38 of the top ply 18. That is, the adhesive 34 extends all of the way to a first edge (e.g., the left edge), but does not extend all of the way to a second edge (e.g., the right edge). The edge region 38 includes “PULL HERE” opening instructions.
The adhesive 34 is sufficiently weak so that if the top ply 16 of a phone card 12 at the end of the strip 10 is pulled perpendicular to the perforations, the top ply 16 of all of the phone cards 12 in the strip 10 release from their respective base plies 18 in one continuous strip and without severing any of the rows of perforations 14 associated with the plurality of phone cards 12. In this manner, the calling card instructions 29, PIN number 30 for use of the phone card, and sweepstakes game results 32 on the front surface 24 of the base ply 18 of each phone card 12 in the strip 10 become simultaneously revealed with one motion. By “simultaneously,” one does not mean that the front surface 24 of all phone cards 12 are instantly revealed, but that in one quick motion, all of the front surfaces 24 of all phone cards 12 become exposed. This is in contrast to having to perform a plurality of discrete motions to individually reveal each front surface 24 of each phone card 12, such as by individually removing the top ply 16 of each phone card 12 in the case where a plurality of phone cards 12 were purchased in one transaction.
To open a single phone card 12, the top ply 16 and base ply 18 are separated at any edge, such as at the edge region 38 which has no adhesive 34 between plies, and the plies are released from each other. A single phone card 12 may also be separated at any of the other three edges by pulling the plies apart from each other and then releasing the plies from each other. If a strip 10 of phone cards 12 are purchased, the phone card 12 at the end of the strip 10 is opened in either of these ways and then the remaining phone cards 12 may be opened in one quick motion as described above.
The adhesive 34 has chemical properties such that after the plies are separated, the adhesive 34 loses its adhesive properties, and thus the plies cannot be stuck back together by using the original adhesive 34.
Referring again to FIGS. 1A-1D and FIG. 2, the perforations 14 extend widthwise across the top ply 16 and the base ply 18 of the strip 10, and the adhesive 34 is disposed throughout the adjoining surfaces of the top ply 16 and base ply 18, except the edge region 38. In this manner, the strip 10 of phone cards 12 can be severed at any point without separating the top ply 16 from the base ply 18 so that any number of phone cards 12 on the strip 10 can be purchased without revealing the information on the front surface 24 of the base ply 18 unless the two plies 16, 18 are deliberately separated. In FIG. 1D, the hatched region is preferably opaque, which can be achieved by covering the entire region with solid black ink.
The phone cards 12 described above are not instant lottery tickets. An instant lottery ticket is purchased for the sole purpose of trying to win money or prizes associated with the lottery. An instant lottery ticket must be purchased. In contrast to a lottery, the instant sweepstakes associated with the phone cards 12 is a freebie (i.e., something that is free, usually provided as part of a promotional scheme), and is analogous to bottle cap contests that award prizes on specially marked soft drink containers. The phone cards 12 state “No purchase necessary to win,” further emphasizing the freebie nature of the phone card sweepstakes. That is, a free sweepstakes ticket portion is available by making a written request to the sweepstakes management entity, in accordance with state regulations governing sweepstakes and contests.
Despite the large number of different types of conventional instant lottery tickets and pull tab tickets commercially available today, there is still a need for additional formats of instant lottery tickets and pull tab tickets, and particularly formats that encourage purchase of multiple tickets in a single transaction and simultaneously meet the strict standards of state lottery commissions for ticket security. The present invention fulfills such a need.
Many recently introduced scratch-off instant lottery tickets, such as tickets that have match up games, have an even larger number of regions that must be scratched off that previous scratch-off tickets. Consequently, these tickets take even longer to play that previous scratch-off tickets. There is a need for instant lottery tickets that are quicker to play than scratch-off tickets but which provide a similar match up game experience. The present invention also fulfills this need.